Working Groups of QPIRG Concordia 2008-2009

Working Groups are the heart of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at Concordia in Montreal. Working groups are small groups of volunteers who want to organize around a specific issue, idea, project, or campaign. Groups usually organize around o­ngoing or long-term issues, though some focus o­n a particular time-sensitive theme or topic. We have listed below the current working groups at QPIRG-Concordia as well as solidarity and affiliate groups. If you’re interested in getting involved, don’t hesitate to get in touch!

QPIRG Concordia Working Groups (2009-10)

Centre Sociale Autogéré/Autonomous Social Center
info@centresocialautogere.org - 514-848-7583
The Autonomous Social Center aims to occupy a space in the Pointe-St-Charles neighbourhood in order to create an autonomous social and cultural space for activities. Various committees and projects are already active as part of this project: bar/show space, independent media center, bike repair workshop, street cinema, a food project, popular education and more.

Centre des médias independents/Independent Media Center
info@cmi-imc.info - 514-843-2018
The Independent Media Center (IMC) is a free and open space, created as a tool for media activists and communities who are looking to produce and diffuse information relating to social movements, current events, local activism, political theory, and much more. It's also space for sharing; an autonomous framework where knowledge and skills can be spread in the spirit of support and mutual aid.

Certain Days Political Prisoner Calendar Committee
info@certaindays.org - 514-848-7583
The Certain Days Political Prisoner Calendar Committee works to support, educate about and fundraise for political prisoners through the production of a yearly calendar. The calendar is a project produced by organizers in Montreal and Toronto, with the support of 3 political prisoners in upstate New York. We work with an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, feminist, queer and trans positive perspective to help free our movement's political prisoners.

Collectif Opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP)
cobp@hotmail.com - 514-395-9691
The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP) is an autonomous group that includes victims, witnesses and others who are concerned about police brutality and all abuses perpetuated by the police. The COBP’s goal is not just to denounce harassment, violence, intimidation, arrests and abuse by the police, but also to raise awareness about our rights, and to support victims of police violence.

Dignidad Migrante
dignidadmigrante@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Colectivo Dignidad Migrante is made up of Spanish-speaking immigrant workers and their allies. Our goals are to: 1) bring together people of this community in Montreal who face injustice and exploitation in their workplaces, whether they have legal working papers or not; 2) create a space where people of this community feel safe to express their anger, frustration, or any feelings at all about their situation; and 3) work together to think of ways to fight the exploitation and injustice faced by immigrant workers, while making sure that everyone in the group feels safe and comfortable with the actions we take (given the fact that many group members have precarious immigration status).

Indigenous Solidarity Committee
indigenoussolidaritymontreal@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The Indigenous Solidarity Committee of the People’s Global Action (PGA) Bloc works in direct solidarity with indigenous organizers and communities fighting for land, freedom and self-determination. We are active in direct solidarity work with communities in Grassy Narrows, Six Nations, Akwesasne, Tyendinaga, Kahnawake and Sheshatsiu (Labrador), and we comprise the Tyendinaga Support Committee and Friends of Elizabeth Penashue in Montreal. We also support the Defenders of the Land Network, Indigenous Sovereignty Week, and have organized actively in opposition to the 2010 Olympics. We organize from an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist perspective, emphasizing popular education and direct action.

Mad Autonomous Support Collective
madautonomy@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The Mad Autonomous Support Collective (M.A.S.C) is a grassroots, mad positive support and action group offering information and support for those struggling with mental health issues, dealing with the psychiatric institution or simply interested in knowing more about how to maintain a healthy state of body and mind. We seek to address the many issues surrounding the concept of mental "illness" and its treatment, and will soon offer more information on a website.

Montreal Childcare Network
childcarecollective@riseup.net - 514-848-7583
We are a network of volunteers who provide childcare at social justice events and meetings. We also organize free kids events and activities. We aim to meet the specific needs of parents, youth and children, including but not limited to low-income communities, Native communities, non-status and immigrant communities of colour, and queer and trans communities. We believe that childcare is political and that providing non-authoritarian quality childcare is an important way we can work in solidarity with other social justice groups. It’s also a fantastic way to break down intergenerational barriers and to enjoy the company of kids!

Montreal Sound Team/Équipe Sonore
equipesonore@riseup.net - 514-848-7583
The Montreal Sound Team/Équipe Sonore provides sound services for community groups that cannot afford to pay professional rates. We build, maintain and operate P.A. systems for community events, rallies, conferences and performances. We also strive to disseminate and democratize the technical knowledge of audio production systems. Our purpose is to support people’s grassroots initiatives and act in the interests of communities and their struggles for economic and political justice.

Not In Our Name Concordia
notinournameconcordia@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Not In Our Name – Concordia is a new group formed to actively support anti-apartheid organizing on our campus. Through the group, we strive to counter the often-expressed notions that equate all Jews with Zionism, and that understand an Israeli Apartheid analysis or Palestinian solidarity organizing as anti-Semitism. As Jews and as activists, as students and as community members, we are committed to fighting oppression in all its forms. With this in mind, we oppose anti-Semitism while at the same time recognizing the nature of Israel as an apartheid system that oppresses Palestinians. In our struggles against oppression we find it most important to decry oppression perpetrated in our name. Thus, as Jews, we organize against Israeli Apartheid. Not in our name.

Open Door Books
bookstoprisoners@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The Open Door Books (ODB) collective is part of an informal network of Books to Prisoners programs throughout North America. ODB is comprised entirely of volunteers and receives its books by donation. We believe that books are an educational and potentially life-changing resource and seek to provide free reading material to inmates throughout Canada. ODB seeks to support and work in solidarity with incarcerated communities. We believe that prisons and the (in)justice system act as institutions of social control and oppression, further targeting marginalized communities as a result of patriarchy, racism, homophobia/transphobia, classism, ableism and an ongoing history of colonization.

People’s Commission Network
abolissons@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The People’s Commission Network is a Montreal network monitoring and opposing the “national security agenda”. The network is a space for individuals and groups who face oppression in the name of “national security” - such as indigenous people, immigrants, racialized communities, radical political organizations, labour unions - and their allies, to form alliances, share information, and coordinate strategies to defend their full rights and dignity.

Prisoner Correspondence Project
info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com - 514-848-7583
The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a collectively-run initiative based out of Montreal, Quebec. It coordinates a direct-correspondence program for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer inmates in Canada and the United States, linking these inmates with people who are part of these same communities outside of prison. In addition, it coordinates a resource library of information regarding harm reduction practice (safer sex, safer drug-use, clean needle care), HIV and HEPC prevention, homophobia, transphobia, coming out, etc. The project also aims to make prisoner justice and prisoner solidarity a priority within queer movements on the outside through events like film screenings, workshops, and panel discussions which touch on the broader issues relating to criminalization and incarceration of queers and transfolk.

Project X
info@theprojectx.ca - 514-848-7583
Project X is a community-based group whose mission is to give all of those affected by racial profiling a chance to speak their minds. We already know that racial profiling in Montreal (and across the world) is a big problem and a lot of authority figures are abusing their powers. We’re collecting testimonials to see how you feel about the police in Montreal, and gather information on how they’re treating people in our neighbourhoods. We also have a workshop on knowing your rights and on knowing what to do when your rights are not respected. Get in touch if you have any testimonials you want to share, or if you want us to give a workshop at your community centre or school.

Re-Con
recon.ftc@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Re-Con is a prisoner-initiated working group created in 1999 by lifers, long-term prisoners and volunteers at the Federal Training Centre penitentiary in Laval, Quebec. Re-Con aims at establishing positive links with various communities and attempts to diminish the effects of long term incarceration. An additional goal of Re-Con is to counter the negative perceptions that are often held toward those incarcerated.

Solidarity Across Borders
solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Solidarity Across Borders is a Montreal-based network engaged in the struggle for justice and dignity of immigrants and refugees. We are comprised of migrants, immigrants, refugees and allies, and come together in support of our main demands: the regularization of all non-status people (Status for All!), an end to deportations and detentions, and the abolition of security certificates. Some of us have direct experiences with the immigration and refugee system; some of us come from immigrant backgrounds; all of us organize as part of a collective struggle for justice and dignity. For us, there is no such thing as "illegal" human beings, only unjust laws and illegitimate governments. We organize not on the basis of pity or charity, but rather solidarity and mutual aid.

Ste-Emilie Skillshare
mtlskillshare@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The Ste Emilie Skillshare (located at 3942 Ste-Emilie in St-Henri) is a group of artists and activists, primarily people of colour and queer people, committed to promoting artistic expression and self-representation in our communities. We run an art studio for people to learn new skills, share their skills, and create art in the spirit of revolution and anti-oppression. We host open studios and workshops on Saturdays and Sundays. Come learn how to silkscreen, use the black and white darkroom, the sewing machines, button maker, and check out the zine distro/library. We are open to all. Skillsharing 4 Life!

Women in Gear/Les Dérailleuses
les.derailleuses@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Women in Gear/Les Dérailleuses is a women’s and trans bicycle collective, working to provide a safe and welcoming environment for people to learn more about bicycles; to empower people to use the bicycle for social change; and to advocate for cycling and gender issues in the urban and political landscape.

QPIRG Concordia Solidarity & Affiliate Groups (2009-2010)

Ethnoculture
contact@ethnoculture.org - 514-992-5488
Ethnoculture is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run organization whose sole mandate is to organize events addressing social, political, cultural, and economic issues of concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual/transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) ethnic and racialized minorities and Two-Spirited people living in Montreal and beyond

Montreal Anarchist Bookfair
info@anarchistbookfair.ca - 514-679-5800
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair -- and month-long Festival of Anarchy (May 2010) -- bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation. The Bookfair and Festival are as much for people who don't necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as they are spaces for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome. The Bookfair and Festival involve diverse events and expressions of anarchism, including a theatre festival, art exhibitions, films, poetry, demonstrations, benefit shows, a cabaret, book launches, discussions and roundtables, an entire day of anarchist workshops and presentations, and much more. The Bookfair and Festival are together one of the largest anarchist events in North America, and for the past decade, an important gathering and reference point for anti-authoritarian ideas and practice. Curious about anarchism? Come check us out! “No gods, no masters; no bosses, no borders!”

Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC)
info@pasc.ca - 514-966-8421
PASC is a Montreal-based collective that is building a network of direct solidarity with peasant communities in civil resistance in Columbia. These processes of resistance consist of the creation of Humanitarians Zones that include 23 Afro-Colombian communities in the region of Choco. In accordance with international human rights, these zones distinguish and protect the civilian communities caught in the midst of an armed conflict. PASC thus proposes to concretize direct solidarity by sending accompaniers to these communities where the physical presence of internationals represents political support and affirms the rights of civilian populations amidst an armed conflict, and reinforces the struggle for life, land, and self-determination.

Q-Team
qteam@riseup.net - 514-848-7583
Qteam is a radical queer collective that aims to address the intersections of oppressions and consciously unsubscribe from the corporate versions of queerness that devalue queer realities. We are committed to anti-imperialism, anti-racism, short shorts, queering activist spaces, the downfall of single issue politics, raging queer pervy dance parties, destroying all prisons, opening all borders, burning pink dollar$, and keeping on keeping on.

Right to Move/La Voie Libre
righttomove@gmail.com - 514-999-4885
Right to Move (RTM) operates a public-access, drop-in, volunteer-staffed DIY bicycle maintenance workshop - providing materials, guidance, and the instruction needed to encourage as many people as possible to cycle. RTM can be found on the Concordia Campus (SGW).

Résovélo
velovelo@qpirgconcordia.org - 514-848-7583
Résovélo is an umbrella group that provides resources, training and assistance to all bicycle collectives, community bicycle shops, and bike share programs in the province of Quebec. We support any cycling organization that operates on a collective model, promotes the bicycle as an environmentally and social responsible form of transportation, and makes cycling and/or bicycle mechanics accessible to all people regardless of gender, economic and social background.

Strategic Digital Video Initiative/Initiative de Vidéo Stratégique
a2delante@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
The Strategic Digital Video Initiative identifies strategic uses for digital video in contexts of community-led social, cultural and environmental struggles, with an emphasis on indigenous rights. It currently works alongside Mapuche communities in Chile, supporting the communication objectives of an emerging movement for the defense of Mapuche territorial and collective rights.

TAPthirst
tapthirst@gmail.com - 514-848-7583
Tap drinkers against privatization (TAPthirst) is an initiative dedicated to promoting awareness of the social, environmental and monetary (did you know that the price of water is three times that of gasoline!) cost of the bottled water industry. We aim to empower people at a grassroots level by supplying them with the information and tools necessary to question the bottled water companies and their effects o¬n our communities as well as the world at large. In doing this we hope to bring people o¬ne step closer to ethical water consumption and help to avoid the privatization of a natural resource.

W.O.R.D. (Writing Our Rhymes Down)
wordlynn@gmail.com - 514-660-5578
W.O.R.D. is part of the worldwide hip-hop phenomenon, a group dedicated to sparking social change by bringing youth together to question, create and celebrate their collective voice. We are proof that the best way to engage marginalized youth who are having difficulties thriving in the traditional classroom environment is to speak in their voice, on their terms. Our focus is to enhance skills in literacy and self-expression, act as an intervention between negative media messages, and let the true talents of youth break out and shine.

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Some Recent Working Groups of QPIRG-Concordia: Alcan’t in India; Anarchist Reading Circle; Block the Empire Montreal; Brown Birthing Network; Colours of Resistance Montreal; Committee to Support Kader Belaouni; Common Front; Countershot; Haiti Action Montreal; Ici La Otra; Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement (IPSM); International Solidarity Movement (ISM); Mexico-Montreal; Political Prisoner Solidarity Project; SNAP! Moving to Our Own Beats; Tadamon; and many many others!
Groups and projects that evolved from, or originated at, QPIRG-Concordia: Right to Move (currently an Affiliate Group); Popular Film Series (evolved into Cinema Politica); Urgence Manif; Sustainable Concordia; Blood Sisters; Un Juste Café; Santropol Roulant; Concordia Recycling and Composting Committee; Vegan Lunch Program (became People’s Potato); Project Take Root (evolved into Frigo Vert); Action Rebut; ASEED (became Equiterre); and others!

Downloads for Working Group Members:

QPIRG Concordia logo in JPEG format for your publicity (or the larger PSD format with a transparent background).

Working Group Expense Report to submit for reimbursements (must be endorsed by another member of your working group).